Intro: Part of the immense Fiat Corporation since 1988, Alfa Romeo had been under Italian government control since 1933.
It was originally founded on the back of the failure of the French Darracq operation, which produced two under-powered models for the Italian market from 1906-1909. However, ALFA (Anonima Lombardi Fabbrica Automobili) was formed in 1910.
Wartime uncertainty (in 1915) led to a demand by the bank for another investor and a wealthy mining engineer, Nicola Romeo, took over as managing director. The company name changed to Alfa Romeo. It built tractors and general engineering equipment during this period. The arrival of designer, Vittorio Jano, and Enzo Ferrari (who ran the company’s racing team), allowed the firm to flourish during the 1930s. Its history is littered with a combination of large luxury and specialised sports cars right up to the 1980s, but the backbone of its manufacturing lay with its popular four-cylinder machines ’ the Giulietta of the mid-1950s and the Giulia that was produced from 1962.
Although never a ’badge-engineered’ concern, Alfa Romeo was forced into utilising many components from Fiat’s corporate parts bins. Yet, a determination existed within the company to build truly characterful machines and the 155 and 156 models helped to develop the image. |
